Do You Have A Cleaning Person?

[MaryNH]

If so, what do you pay and what does she/he do?

[Jenn]

Yes we do. She comes every other Wednesday and does pretty much everything but laundry and dishes. She vacuums, dusts, mops the kitchen and hardwood floors, cleans the bathrooms top to bottom, changes sheets, etc... She does all the major stuff and if we have something extra that we need done then she'll do that also. She's great and we pay $60 every other week. I always love coming home from work after she's been at our house. It just smells cleaner and it's so nice not to have to do all that stuff myself.

[sheila]

We don't, but we had someone come today (a baby gift from a friend). OMG, I cannot say how much I loved it!!!

Before she came, we did the typical "hurry up and clean the house, the cleaning lady is coming" thing, and I felt ok about how the house looked when she came in. After an hour or so, I couldn't believe how incredibly dirty our house was without me noticing! She did the floors and dusted the things I never get to and moved things that I don't normally move, andd cleaned under toy piles that I never really think about.

I know that it will be a really long time before we have a cleaning lady (probably something that will never happen) but I cannot say how much I enjoyed having this woman clean my house. Everything looks, smell and feels *really* clean! I think the house is cleaner right now than it was since we moved in (dh says it is cleaner than when we moved in!)

[Jenn]

Before she came, we did the typical "hurry up and clean the house, the cleaning lady is coming" thing,

:lol: We do this the night before our cleaning lady comes! We are so bad about leaving crap everywhere and we have to hurry and put it away or hide it so she can clean. Sometimes I even have to leave her a note telling her to ignore a certain area because it's so cluttered and I haven't had a chance to move that crap so she can clean. Luckily she's wonderful and doesn't even mind our clutter. She'll either clean around it or move it to clean.

[MaryNH]

Yes we do. She comes every other Wednesday and does pretty much everything but laundry and dishes. She vacuums, dusts, mops the kitchen and hardwood floors, cleans the bathrooms top to bottom, changes sheets, etc... She does all the major stuff and if we have something extra that we need done then she'll do that also. She's great and we pay $60 every other week. I always love coming home from work after she's been at our house. It just smells cleaner and it's so nice not to have to do all that stuff myself. And you're in Northern VA,right? Just trying to figure out how much it would cost me here? Also, how do you prepae/clean the house before the cleaner gets there?

[gulp!]

Our cleaning person sounds just like Jenn's- does the same things. We pay $80 (she's actually raising it to $90, but hasn't raised her fee in 4 years), and she cleans our 2200 sq. ft, 4 level home. I live just outside of Boston, so it's probably a bit pricier than most other areas of the country. She comes every other week.

Oh, and we do the "clean for the cleaning lady" thing as well! DH thinks I'm nuts, since we're PAYING her to clean, but I don't want her to think we're total slobs!! :lol:

[Dennis]

We pay $80 for ours, and it's the best money we spend :). They have 2 people come so they're done in less than 2 hours. They clean the kitchen and bathrooms, mop the floors, vacuum, dust, and straighten up. We don't clean for them at all - they put our clutter into nice piles for us. Occasionally we'll have them do some extra stuff for us like clean the refrigerator, and we pay extra for that.

Dennis

[EricaMG]

We used a cleaning person when I was pregnant (and on bed rest) and we continued until just a few weeks ago, when I decided that it was wayyyyy cheaper for me to hire a babysitter for my kids and to do the cleaning myself. Our lady charged us $90 to clean a 2700 sq. ft. house, and this was a good deal as compared to other cleaning places!!! We live in Redmond, Washington (near Seattle) and I can't believe how expensive that sounds next to some of you! She came every other week.

And yes, we cleaned for the cleaning lady. If nothing else, it was a way to help us organize our clutter and to find lost things.

Erica

[MaryNH]

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but my house is less than 1000 sq ft. It sounds so small next to some of the homes mentioned. I just hate to clean and now that we are earning extra pay and dh is away, I just want someone else to do it.

[catalina]

Yes, we do and I love her! :love:

She comes twice a week and stays for 4 or 5 hours. She does the dishes, changes the bed sheets, cleans, mops and dusts and she even does the ironing... :)

[EricaMG]

I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but my house is less than 1000 sq ft. It sounds so small next to some of the homes mentioned. I just hate to clean and now that we are earning extra pay and dh is away, I just want someone else to do it.

Mary, I don't think it's the size of your house that's important at all!! It's more about finding the time and energy to mop the floor and vacuum etc. etc. with young kids around, and a husband who is away.

Erica

[MaryNH]

Mary, I don't think it's the size of your house that's important at all!! It's more about finding the time and energy to mop the floor and vacuum etc. etc. with young kids around, and a husband who is away.

Erica
Thank you for articulating it so well!!!

[gulp!]

Mary, we use the same cleaning lady that used to clean my 650 sq. ft. condo. Doesn't matter what size your place is- the only reason I mentioned it is b/c that's how she determined how much to charge me.

i think it's one of the best spent $$- I started using her when it was just me living alone!! I just HATE to clean, and I can think of better ways to spend my weekends! :)

[Karri]

Wow Jenn....$60 is so great!!!

When we got a quote for our last house, it was going to be $80 every other week for our 2200 sq ft house (we didnt do it, though).

I am quite fortunate...my grandparents come here once a week and my g-pa plays w/ Aidan while my g-ma cleans my house...for free. They just want to help out and see the kids.

[Tricia]

I have a question for those of you who have a cleaning person, where did you find them? I am wanting to start having someone come out and clean for us but I don't know where to start.

[Dennis]

Tricia, we got ours on a referral from a friend. That's probably the best place to start - ask friends and neighbors if they use anyone they can recommend.

Dennis

[Lette]

I have a question for those of you who have a cleaning person, where did you find them? I am wanting to start having someone come out and clean for us but I don't know where to start.
We actually have had several flyers put in our mailbox, but in talking with our next door neighbor, we found out that his sister was doing it. We've had her for 5 years now. :)

[Ami]

We used a lady that my SIL used, she charged $60 for our 1800 sq ft house, she did everything, it was great! I wish we could justify spending $ for that again.

[Leslie]

Oh man! This is something I want to start doing, but I can only imagine how much that would cost here. Our place is only 1300 square feet, but it really could use a deep cleaning. :nod:

[Wendy]

Heck yes we have a cleaning person!!! They come every other week and clean our house for $85.00. I dont know what I would do without them. One of the ways that I have cut some of the cost is that I only have them clean only the rooms that we use all the time. In other words, I dont have them clean the spare bedroom in that it is never used. Our living area is about 3000 square feet but I would guess that they only clean about 2/3 of that.

[Jenn]

Wow Jenn....$60 is so great!!!



It started out as $75/every two weeks but about 3 months ago I asked about only using her once a month to cut back on the cost and she said that she would lower the bi-weekly rate to $60. How could I turn that down? :lol:

We found our cleaning lady through our local town paper. She had great references and I really wanted an english speaking person. I had a spanish woman before I was married and it was hard to communicate with her as she spoke very little english. I love that I can communicate with my cleaning lady and we leave each other notes all the time. :lol: She's wonderful!

[Tricia]

I have called a couple of companies and they are wanting $65 for 3-4 people to come in and clean my house. I am sure that this is probably a great deal but I don't need 3-4 people in my house. It is only 1200 sq ft. I am waiting for our weekly paper to come out to look through it as well.

[jenr812]

I don't have one yet, but that was one of the stipulations about me returning to work :lol We are ABSOLUTELY getting one :nod: It's neat to see what you're paying and getting. It will be good info for me later :) It's so funny but it's one of the things I am most looking forward to about returning to work. Of course, I have a couple years of school ahead of me first...

[Kris]

no cleaning lady here unless you count me. :lol: My mother comes to help me though

[Hilary]

We have one. She comes once a week and charges $10 an hour. She's usually only here for 2 hours, so $20 is practically nothing compared to what some of you pay!!

She cleans the bathroom, living room, and kitchen. I'd feel weird about having someone clean my room. :errr:

DH found her through a lady he works with. She started coming about 2 weeks after Ava was born.

[mrs. shannon]

Okay girls,
Any ideas on how to conveince my DH that we need a cleaning lady. we both are so busy working and then spend all of Sat morning doing the floors and such. I just want someone to really mop (i love the swifter, but my hardwoods do need to be real mopped a little more often that i get to them), dust and clean the bathrooms! I'm thinking of getting a quote while he is gone one day and then surprixing him! It would only be probably $60 and I would like for them to come once a month. It isn't the money, cause we can afford it, he just tends to get tight on things like that (like changing our own oil on the cars, etc).. but to me it's about the time saved!
Shannon

[Sunshine1020]

As soon as dh and I move into our own house, I'm definitely going to talk him into getting someone to come clean it for us!! Neither one of us is very good about keeping things clean. We don't scrub anything nearly as much as we should! I have much better things to do with my time.

Tiffany

[bunybomb]

Okay girls,
Any ideas on how to conveince my DH that we need a cleaning lady. we both are so busy working and then spend all of Sat morning doing the floors and such.
I had to work on my DH too. When I went back to work full-time, I was adamant about getting help. Since I was making more money, that wasn't the issue. He kept saying that his parents never paid someone to clean house and he didn't think we should either. He even tried to say that he didn't know anyone that paid a housecleaner. So I handed him a list of things to be done and told him to pick half. After one Saturday of cleaning while running after kids, going to soccer games, grocery shopping, etc. He said I was right and we should pay someone. We pay our gal $60/EOW. She does the floors, dusts, vacuums, counter tops, washes doors (lots of little finger prints) and bathrooms on a regular basis and when I need her to do special projects she does that too. She even cleans carpets which we will be doing in the next few weeks for an extra charge. We pick up toys off the floor and put stuff away (like mail) that might be laying around. Other than that, she does pretty much everything.

I found Sara through our community website. I called 7 different people and interviewed 5. She was the most reasonable and I instantly clicked with her. I felt comfortable right away and my instinct was confirmed after checking her references. She has been with us for 7 months now. I love her and can't live without her. She's the closest I'll ever get to having a wife! :lol:

[tori lynne]

I only wish!! I figure I have a little more than 4 more years... I want a cleaning lady when I turn 30! We just don't have the $$ right now but in a few more years I look forward to having the luxury!

[Maygoddess]

we don't have one now..hopefully one day. My mom has had one since I was in elementary school..so at least the last 25 years..different crew now. My mother is a complete packrat. When I was down visiting over easter weekend..justa few hours after I showed up, her cleaning crew came in. I was asking my mom how the heck they clean when she does not have one single uncluttered surface in the house?? I told her it was her way of combatting dust by not having any visible surfaces anywhere that dust could collect on.
Her housekeepers, if they came to my house, would be shocked and wonder if we were really related as our house is practically empty and all surfaces are clean. The only part we hate is getting all 3 bathrooms cleaned thoroughly, vacuuming and getting the kitchen a good cleaning.we have 2,400 of space to clean. No kids though so not alot of clutter and toy piles.

I may consider it for a once a month total cleaning..other than that..the house stays pretty neat.

[Jenn]

I called 7 different people and interviewed 5. She was the most reasonable and I instantly clicked with her. I felt comfortable right away and my instinct was confirmed after checking her references. She has been with us for 7 months now. I love her and can't live without her. She's the closest I'll ever get to having a wife! :lol:

This is exactly how I feel about our cleaning lady! I'm so upset that I'm going to lose her in about 7 weeks when we move about 600 miles away. I wish I could take her with me.

[Bev]

Are you home when they come, or do they have a key? Did you do a criminal record check on them? I know DH (a cop) would not want anyone other than family to have a key, but at the same time he feels weird sitting around watching tv while someone cleans the house!

Usually I do a good cleaning when he and Mason go for a bike ride, but that sucks to be me, because 1) I'm doing the cleaning and 2) I miss the bike ride.

[Hilary]

Are you home when they come, or do they have a key? Did you do a criminal record check on them? I know DH (a cop) would not want anyone other than family to have a key, but at the same time he feels weird sitting around watching tv while someone cleans the house!

I stay home when mine comes most of the time, if I don't I'll wait until she gets here and run wherever I'm going really quick.

She doesn't clean our bedrooms, so we go in there while she cleans. I didn't do a criminal check on her.

[catalina]

Mine is like a diamond in the rough... she was recommended by DH's cousin who lives in our building, too. She has a key and sometimes I saty but if I have to leave she just comes in and takes care of everything: bedrooms, dusting, windows, bathrooms, moping, sweeping, dishes and she even does the ironing. I do the laundry just because I like it but she takes the clothes out of the dryer and puts everything in their place.

She comes Tues and Thurs and we pay her $30dlls per week.

Her husband is a carpenter/paintor/plumber/etc so if we need any repairments he does them even if we can't be at home. It's great to have people you can trust in :nod:

So you'll agree with me when I say that they are "the happiness of the house" :lol:

[bunybomb]

Are you home when they come, or do they have a key? Did you do a criminal record check on them?
I'm not home when Sara comes. I leave a key under the mat for her and a check on the kitchen counter. She leaves the key on the counter when she leaves. I wouldn't feel comfortable if she had a copy of the key. I didn't do a background check on her.

[Dennis]

I'm not home when Sara comes. I leave a key under the mat for her and a check on the kitchen counter. She leaves the key on the counter when she leaves. I wouldn't feel comfortable if she had a copy of the key. I didn't do a background check on her.

Of course there's nothing stopping her from having the key copied if she wants to :)

Ours has a key. They started when Mary was home after having Joe, so she was always there when they came at first and that helped with our level of trust with giving them a key.

Dennis

[bunybomb]

Of course there's nothing stopping her from having the key copied if she wants to :)

You are right Dennis, but we live so far out in the boonies, it wouldn't be worth bothering with, plus I doubt there is anything in there she would want.:lol2:

[Dennis]

You are right Dennis, but we live so far out in the boonies, it wouldn't be worth bothering with, plus I doubt there is anything in there she would want.:lol2:

That's what I figure - we really don't have anything worth stealing anyway.

[Bev]

We have a very nice tv, but it requires 3 men to move. :lol: Thanks for responding, I was just wondering how people did it. :)

[Katrina]

I don't have a cleaning lady (but oh man do I wish I did!! I have to work on DH though!)
but my mom does. She pays $75 a session and she comes every other week. She does everything but laundry and dishes. My mom is a pretty obsesive housecleaner herself though but it is nice to have someone else do the bathrooms and vacuum the whole place and such. She lives in San Fransisco.
She actually uses a service now but I think its the same woman who comes every time generally. The service keeps the key and whoever is going to clean the house that week gets it from the owner. (i think!) She always schedules her to come when she is working so she will not be there to get in the way. When I was staying with her during the last part of my pregnancy, I always felt weird being there when she was cleaning.

[jenr812]

How much do you all do for upkeep on the off weeks? :)

[Vs1023]

I always told DH that when we got a house, I wanted a cleaning person so I've been interviewing people for about 3 weeks now since we close on June 2nd. So far the best price I've gotten was from a mother daughter team @ around $50-60/month. I'll be calling her soon to hire her :) I cannot wait! My aunt always had a cleaning lady and coming home to the house after she was there is just pure heaven :nod: Who wants to spend weekends cleaning when you've worked all week or been doing other things all week? You want time with your family and time to unwind and relax :)

[Christina]

I just hired a cleaning lady today. She is charging $20.00/hour and will be coming a couple hours each week. I am excited and hope it works out.

[Toni]

No cleaning person here, we do it all ourselves!

[Kimmy0712]

:woo: I just hired someone!!! She will start tomorrow. She cleans my FIL's house 3 doors up from me. It was like pulling teeth to get DH to let me do it. I finally told him yesterday that I want her to clean and I didn't want to hear no from him. This is a year in the waiting!:woo: oh she is charging us $50.00 for our 2000 SF house.

[MtBikeLover]

What is it with our DHs and their not wanting cleaning people?? My DH is the same way - he says that he can do it (he is a SAHD). The problem is, that while he surface cleans every day, the deep cleaning doesn't get done as much as we would like and that is the stuff that takes so long to do.

His feeling is that every time he cleans, the house is just a mess again the next day. yes it is cluttered and yes the dishes have to be done and messes wiped up, but my argument is always that we don't do the heavy cleaning every day. He just doesn't understand.

As much as I hated to use this argument, I finally said that I make the money and if I choose to use $50 a month to have someone deep clean our house, then I should be able to make that choice. He couldn't really argue with that one and agreed that we would try it once. Hopefully that will convince him!

[kim]

i priced them out last summer but then we decided to buy the van and i had to abandon my dream of having a house cleaner :cry: (although i have tony help me empty the dishwasher now :lol: )

i have a 2000sf house that i just cannot keep clean while working full time. and i imagine it's only going to get worse when baby g gets here.

my birthday is in late august and i already told dh i wanted him to hire a team to come in and really really clean the place while i am in the hospital having the baby :biggrin:

[Cortney]

I wish we had one. :) My mom has two ladies that come (and work together) every Friday. They don't do laundry/dishes/bed-making/etc because my mom is obsessive about those things but they dust and do all the heavy cleaning around the house- baseboards, etc. She pays them $60 a week (they normally stay 3 hours or so) and she has a 7,000 sq ft house.

[AahRee]

She pays them $60 each? Or $60 for both? Wow, we couldn't find someone to clean our 2400 sq. ft. house for that much per week - or I'd be hiring them. :nod: That's a great deal!

[Stacey]

She's the closest I'll ever get to having a wife!
:lol: I always say that I need a wife.

I didn't realize that house cleaners cost so little (in some places anyway). I don't know why I was thinking it would cost so much. I think I'm going to look into this more. I'm a SAHM, but I still don't feel like I have time to do the heavy cleaning. We can do it on the weekends if one of us watch the kids, but I feel like that's our family time together.

I would feel a little weird about being around while someone cleaned, but I guess it wouldn't be so bad because I'd be watching the kids. I think it would take me a little while to trust someone else alone in the house.